Recomendation for speakers BEST for Piano?

Sbank is absolutely right. NO speaker has ever matched the Quads in the midrange where most piano and voice (not to mention most music in general) falls. By Medieval music I presume you mean mostly liturgical pieces. The Quads are unparalled with a cappella voice yet equally facile with sackbuts and crumhorns should your Medieval tastes run more secular. The 988 should be sufficient unless you listen to an inordinate number of pianists performing on Bosendorfers which sound better on the 989s. With your musical tastes you must hear these speakers.

Muralman, your enthusiasm for the Apogees is curious. I owned the Duettas for a time and found them exciting but ultimately unsatisfying. I suspect many others did too leading to the demise of the company. Their inefficiency and cruel impedance swings tended to bring out the worst aspects of most amps except those least suited to the nuance of piano and voice. I must confess that before your post on 11/14 I did not realize that the Apogees could all "straight line to 20db". For the Quads to match that feat you'd have to use the volume control but I think they get pretty close to 0dB with the mute button.

Muralman, there is not a speaker in the world today that cannot straight line to 20dB. 20 Hz is certainly another matter. You are confusing loudness with frequency response, which I find listeners of speakers with erratic impedance curves often do. For the record I am not a Quad owner but I feel they best meet the criteria for the subject of this thread which is reproduction of classical piano and Medieval music. As a classically trained pianist with a Steinway 'M' in my living room I am fairly familiar with this repetoire. The vast majority of this music falls easily between 55 and 3500 Hz where the Quads are peerless IMHO. With all due respect I really like your passion for your Scintillas but I wonder how you explain their demise while the Quad thrives. Also I am not aware of any recorded music that captures a 20 Hz tone so I would be appreciative if you could recommend one, especially one of classical piano or Medieval music and preferably above 20dB.

Muralman, I now understand your passion for the Scintillas. Whatever part of the "Ground Hog Day" loop you and the Apogee Corporation are trapped in I am so glad that it allows you to revel in obsolescence.
Frogman, you are right on. Physics and mathematics defy the appeal of the Quads but they sound most like a piano to me too.
As to frequency response I can only say GET REAL. Name me a recording with a 20 Hz tone, please.

Ritteri, thanks for your suggestions regarding recordings with ultra-low frequency tones. I will truly check them out. My experience has been that most redbook CDs trying to articulate low bass simply double the 40 Hz tone (+3-4dB) and allow room resonance to do the rest. It is well known that you do not have to produce the fundamental tone (spectral pitch) in order to "hear" it (virtual pitch). In fact the difference between spectral and virtual pitch may explain why we naturally want to boost the bass and attenuate the treble in order to obtain "full-range". A pure spectral 20 Hz tone is extremely hard to produce acoustically (think 32 foot diapason) and though fairly easy to synthesize electronically even more rarely recorded as such. Why bother when a 40 Hz tone overloaded into a boosted subwoofer "sounds" like the real thing?

Hey Frogman, how do you know that the expanded soundstage added by your subwoofer isn't due to the 0.2msec delay between the sub and your mains at 80 Hz? Or the phase shift between running a mono sub with binaural mains? Why are you so sure that it's due to 20 Hz "undertones" that only a nearly inactive subwoofer can produce? Do you really think these practically inaudible tones are present on redbook CDs? As a recovering subwoofer user my opinions on this matter could be suspect but I offer them honestly. Jsujo is absolutely correct but Sam Tellig says it best in the current 12/03 Stereophile (p.36, col.2, p6): "Deep bass is almost always more trouble than it's worth." Free your ears from the tyranny of frequency response. Try going "subless"!

Frogman you are a good sport and I do appreciate your perspective. I literally tried for years to mate various subs with speakers whose midrange was glorious but low end insufficient. Perhaps the most entertaining combo I devised was ML CLSs with binaural Entecs. The sound was spectacular regardless of the recording which certainly impressed people but quickly became aurally tedious. I tried AP Virgos with a mono Minos and found that the lower the setting of the Minos the better I liked the music and once when my maid unplugged the Minos I listened for days congratulating myself on how well I had dialed it in until I discovered the plug on the floor! Thus began my disaffection with these things. With all due respect I find them to be low frequency reverb devices and little more. Try putting 0.05 msec delay between your R/L mains and see how that "recreates" the concert hall feeling. YMMV and I certainly understand your desire to augment the Stax which I agree is an awesome midrange mindblower. However there is no subwoofer on the planet that I have found to improve the sound of my W/P 7s, even Wilson's own WatchDog or Pow Wow. But I have certainly found a few that will "blow away" my guests and any semblance of real music as well. I've conceded the match but truly respect that you have take up the banner.

Good listening and Happy Thanksgiving to all, indeed (unless you're Canadian, of course).

Frogman you are a good sport and I do appreciate your perspective. I literally tried for years to mate various subs with speakers whose midrange was glorious but low end insufficient. Perhaps the most entertaining combo I devised was ML CLSs with binaural Entecs. The sound was spectacular regardless of the recording which certainly impressed people but quickly became aurally tedious. I tried AP Virgos with a mono Minos and found that the lower the setting of the Minos the better I liked the music and once when my maid unplugged the Minos I listened for days congratulating myself on how well I had dialed it in until I discovered the plug on the floor! Thus began my disaffection with these things. With all due respect I find them to be low frequency reverb devices and little more. Try putting 0.05 msec delay between your R/L mains and see how that "recreates" the concert hall feeling. YMMV and I certainly understand your desire to augment the Stax which I agree is an awesome midrange mindblower. However there is no subwoofer on the planet that I have found to improve the sound of my W/P 7s, even Wilson's own WatchDog or Pow Wow. But I have certainly found a few that will "blow away" my guests and any semblance of real music as well. I've conceded the match but truly respect that you have take up the banner.

Good listening and Happy Thanksgiving to all, indeed (unless you're Canadian, of course).

The Scintillas commercial success speaks for itself, don't you think?

And now here's the rub: What's the best speaker for Kazoo? (excluding of course the Avantgardes since they were obviously voiced with 18th century mirlitons).

Careful Muralman. Depends on her Habit, don't you think?